Monday, July 1, 2013

A Month of Reading Acts - Chapter 1 (Message Version)

To the Ends of the World

Dear
Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that
Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the
apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken
up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in
many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face
meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God.
As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no
account to leave Jerusalem but “must wait for what the Father promised:
the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be
baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon.”

When
they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going
to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?”

He
told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s
business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit
comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over
Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”

These
were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared
in a cloud. They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two
men appeared—in white robes! They said, “You Galileans!—why do you just
stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up
from among you to heaven will come as certainly—and mysteriously—as he
left.”

Returning to Jerusalem

So
they left the mountain called Olives and returned to Jerusalem. It was a
little over half a mile. They went to the upper room they had been
using as a meeting place:

Peter,John,James,Andrew,Philip,Thomas,Bartholomew,Matthew,James, son of Alphaeus,Simon the Zealot,Judas, son of James.

They
agreed they were in this for good, completely together in prayer, the
women included. Also Jesus’ mother, Mary, and his brothers.

Replacing Judas

During
this time, Peter stood up in the company—there were about 120 of them
in the room at the time—and said, “Friends, long ago the Holy Spirit
spoke through David regarding Judas, who became the guide to those who
arrested Jesus. That Scripture had to be fulfilled, and now has been.
Judas was one of us and had his assigned place in this ministry.

“As
you know, he took the evil bribe money and bought a small farm. There
he came to a bad end, rupturing his belly and spilling his guts.
Everybody in Jerusalem knows this by now; they call the place Murder
Meadow. It’s exactly what we find written in the Psalms:

Let his farm become hauntedSo no one can ever live there.

“And also what was written later:

Let someone else take over his post.

“Judas
must now be replaced. The replacement must come from the company of men
who stayed together with us from the time Jesus was baptized by John up
to the day of his ascension, designated along with us as a witness to
his resurrection.”

They
nominated two: Joseph Barsabbas, nicknamed Justus, and Matthias. Then
they prayed, “You, O God, know every one of us inside and out. Make
plain which of these two men you choose to take the place in this
ministry and leadership that Judas threw away in order to go his own
way.” They then drew straws. Matthias won and was counted in with the
eleven apostles.